Prime Directive

The Prime Directive of Non-Interference, also known as the Prime Directive or the Non-Interference Directive, were the colloquial terms for the Federation Starfleet's General Order One. The Prime Directive dictated that no Starfleet personnel knowingly interfere with the natural progression of pre-warpcivilizations.

In 2151, the Enterprise made contact with the Fazi and the Hipon on the planetFazi. When CaptainJonathan Archer discovered that the Fazi were less developed than humans, he immediately wanted to begin to share technology and information with those people. However, persuasion from the Hipon, a more advanced species on the planet's southern continent, urged him not to proceed. Following the advice from SubcommanderT'Pol, he decided not to share technology to allow the two races to communicate in an attempt to let the two races advance at their own rate. However, Archer decided that guidelines governing first contacts and cultural contamination were needed. (ENTnovel: By the Book)

The philosophy of the Federation was all well and good, but a method needed to be adopted in order to measure the cultural development of a civilization. In the early 2200s, the Richter Scale of Culture became the chosen method to monitor a civilization's progress. (TOSnovel: Prime Directive)

Elements within the Prime Directive prevented Starfleet officers from interfering in internal matters of other races. However, they were able to help in negotiating in a compromise so long as both sides agreed to it. (TOSvideo game: Judgment Rites)

Though the world of Treva lacked spaceflight, it had been contacted by and traded with non-Federation cultures prior to its contact with the Federation, and made a preliminary application for membership in 2349. As a Starfleet preliminary survey team had made a non-negative report on the world, Starfleet was able to provide appropriate aid in its political difficulties at the request of its elected government. (TNGnovel: Survivors)

The Prime Directive was a Starfleet regulation, however, and not a civil law. As a result, Federation civilians were legally allowed to engage in activities that would be considered violations of the Prime Directive were they in Starfleet. In 2364, several Federation citizens on the planet Angel I attempted to influence that world's matriarchal society to embrace a more egalitarian ideal; Federation Starfleet personnel on site determined that they could not force those civilians to refrain from influencing Angel One's society. (TNGepisode: "Angel One") The mercenary band of the Silver Paladin, comprising Federation citizens and former Starfleet officers, assisted in a rebellion on the planet Treva that same year. After uncovering existing alien interference, the necessary actions of active Starfleet officers, Data and Natasha Yar were waived and the USS Enterprise-D was able to assist. (TNGnovel: Survivors)